¹ Because God, in His providence and with a kind of loving command, and your brotherhood as well, supplies and compels me to offer some sort of discourse, I do this not out of presumption but from genuine and wholehearted love. And although, by God’s grace, you are already so perfected that you have no need of our admonition, yet, compelled by love—which knows no fear—I dare, with true humility and perfect charity, to encourage and exhort you in what we know you already fulfil most excellently.

² However, I do this not without a sense of reverence, for we know ourselves to be unworthy even as disciples, and yet we seem to stir up teachers toward the holy work. Though we are lukewarm, we are compelled to admonish the fervent; though we are sinners, we dare to correct the righteous; though we are unskilled, we presume to instruct the learned; though we are tossed about by the raging waves of this world’s sea, we nonetheless bring forth words of preaching to those who have already happily reached the harbour.

³ However, dearest brothers, just as ships, having overcome and conquered the waves of the sea, still sometimes struggle even in the safest harbour—and unless great caution is exercised, they nearly sink—so too, with the utmost humility and profound reverence, we admonish you. Since Christ has freed you from mortal sins, as though from perilous waves, and has placed you in the harbour of peace and blessedness, you must strive with all vigilance, with Christ’s help, to continually bail out even the smallest negligences and seemingly minor sins that seep into the soul. These are like tiny drops of water that, through the smallest cracks in a ship, gather in the bilge.

⁴ For just as a ship, after escaping the raging waves of the sea, will sink in the harbour if it is not bilged, being gradually filled by these minuscule drops, so too a monk, after overcoming and triumphing over the sins of this world—like dangerous waves—if he neglects to purge his soul of creeping faults, minor failings, and daily sins, will face the risk of shipwreck even in the very harbour itself: the monastery.

⁵ But someone may ask: how can the soul be purged of its bilge water? Certainly, through prayer, fasting, vigilance, and by practicing true charity, genuine humility, and sincere obedience. Pay attention, brothers, I beg you. Just as a ship is bailed out with a bucket, so too the soul is freed from evil deeds through the Lord’s Prayer, if one prays it truthfully, saying: “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors”. For whoever mercifully pardons all who sin against him will have no trace of sin left in his soul.

⁶ Take note, brothers, and reflect on what I have said: “whoever pardons the one who sins against him”—I did not say, “whoever pardons the one who sins against God,” for you are not obliged to forgive such a person. However, if someone sins against you, you must grant him forgiveness. And yet, what is worse, we often forgive those who sin against God quickly, but we are slow and reluctant to pardon those who sin against us. If we wish to act justly, we must not readily forgive those who sin against God without the most severe discipline, lest, by granting them indiscriminate mercy, we offer an example of ruin to others. Thus, let each person show himself merciful in his own affairs, for the Lord says: “If you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you”.

⁷ When someone dares to commit a sin against God, he must undergo monastic discipline. This must be done with a kind and merciful spirit, so that through spiritual correction he is reformed in this life and does not perish in the next. For every sin that is not corrected in this world will be punished in the world to come. Indeed, divine Scripture speaks of a son or a servant in this way: “You shall strike him with the rod and deliver his soul from Sheol”.

⁸ Therefore, as I have said before, we must not only guard against mortal sins but also reject daily even the smallest negligences, as if they were the devil’s poison. There are some, however, who, after making their religious profession, become lax through excessive complacency—simply because they appear to have left the world behind. Thus, the Lord’s judgment is fulfilled in them, where it is written: “I wish that you were either cold or hot. But because you are lukewarm, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth”.

⁹ What does this mean: “I wish you were either cold or hot”? It signifies this: it would have been better for you to remain cold in the world or to be fervent in the monastery. But now, since you have left the world yet have failed, through your negligence, to embrace spiritual fervour, you have become lukewarm—and thus, you will be vomited from the mouth of the Lord, scarcely able to be received back again.

¹⁰ Therefore, dearest brothers, pray not only that God may deign to grant you the grace of good perseverance, but also that those who are negligent may at last lift themselves out of the pit of pride and be freed from its snares. For if, through your prayers and the counsel you offer with love, those who are lukewarm and negligent are brought to amendment, the Lord will reward you with a double recompense: both for your own correction and for theirs.

¹¹ Indeed, those who are virtuous ought not to exalt themselves as if on account of their own merits, nor should the negligent despair of God’s mercy. Rather, the virtuous should guard God’s gifts with humility, while the negligent should hasten with heartfelt contrition to the remedies of repentance and correction. For the one who is good, if he begins to grow proud, will be humbled, while the one who is proud, if he humbles himself, will be lifted up by the mercy of God: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted”.

¹² It is essential, therefore, that no one allows himself to be further crushed under the harsh yoke of sin, nor to remain hardened by the perilous delay of persisting in sin. Rather, let him quickly take refuge in the mercy of God, so that no trace of sin remains in him. A wound, while still fresh and warm, is best treated with a poultice or a bandage. Similarly, if one swiftly resolves to rise again and turns with prompt devotion to the heavenly Physician, the mark of sin will not remain on the fallen soul. For under the hand of the Almighty Physician, the disease of sin is quickly destroyed, and the sick one is swiftly healed “Heal me, Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise”.

¹³ Once again, I beg and exhort you, brothers, to make it your constant effort to show obedience, humility, and charity—not only toward your elders and peers but also toward those who are younger. For no matter how many good virtues a servant of God may strive to possess, he will lose them all to his ruin if he lacks true humility and charity. Do not grumble, brothers, for it is written: “The people grumbled, and they were destroyed by serpents”. Do not speak ill of one another, for it is written: “Whoever slanders his brother will be brought to ruin”. Do not harbour anger in your heart, for it is written: “For human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires”. Do not hate one another, for it is written: “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer”.

¹⁴ But there is no need for us to teach you about holy charity with many words, for we know and rejoice that you are already fulfilling it through your deeds for the glory of Christ. We make only this one special request: since God has deigned to place you in a place of peace and tranquility, we ask that you pray all the more fervently to the Lord on our behalf—those of us who are battered by the storms and countless waves of this world. Thus, if we, being unworthy, are not granted the glory of heaven, may we at least, through your prayers, obtain the forgiveness of our sins. Amen.